Kay Starr was successful in every field of music she tried, jazz, country and pop. But her roots were in jazz, Billie Holiday, considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all time, called Starr "the only white woman who could sing the blues."
She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz".
Kay Starr was born on a reservation in Dougherty, Oklahoma. Her father, Harry, was a full-blooded Iroquois Indian; her mother, Annie, was of mixed Irish and American Indian heritage. When her father got a job installing water sprinkler systems, the family moved to Dallas, Texas.
While her father worked for the Automatic Sprinkler Company, her mother raised chickens, and Kay used to sing to the chickens in the coop. As a result of the fact that her aunt, Nora, was impressed by her singing, she began to sing at the age of seven on a Dallas radio station, WRR, first in a talent competition where she finished third one week and won every week thereafter, then with her own weekly fifteen minute show. She sang pop and "hillbilly" songs with a piano accompaniment. By the age of ten, she was making $3 a night, a lot of money in the Depression days.
As a result of her father's changing jobs, her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and she continued performing on the radio, singing "Western swing music," still mostly a mix of country and pop. It was while she was on the Memphis radio station WMPS that, as a result of misspellings in her fan mail, she and her parents decided to give her the name "Kay Starr". At the age of fifteen, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra. Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, which he did not have; Venuti's road manager heard her on the radio, and suggested her to Venuti. Because she was still in junior high school, her parents insisted that Venuti take her home no later than midnight.
Although she had brief stints in 1939 with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller (who hired her in July of that year when his regular singer, Marion Hutton, was sick), she spent most of her next few years with Venuti, until he dissolved his band in 1942. It was, however, with Miller that she cut her first record: "Baby Me"/"Love with a Capital You." It was not a great success, in part because the band played in a key more appropriate for Marion Hutton, which was less suited for Kay's vocal range.
I Ain't Gonna Cry No More
Kay Starr Lyrics
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'Cause you said goodbye, oh no!
Though I′m worried about you
I ain't gonna cry!
Even if I weep
Will I lose my sleep? Oh no!
I'll be dreamin′ about you
I can't be wrong
You′ll come back some day
Time won't be long
So until then, I′ll say
I ain't gonna cry
′Cause you said goodbye, oh no!
I'm so lonesome without you
But I ain't gonna cry!
I ain′t gonna cry
Mmm, if you do or you die
There′s no use to try
'CauseI ain′t a-gonna cry!
And if I should ever weep
You don't deserve a peep
I won′t lose my sleep
'CauseI ain′t a-gonna cry!
I can't be wrong
You'll come back some day
Time won′t be long
So until then, I′ll say
I ain't a-gonna cry
′Cause you said goodbye, no no!
I'm so lonesome without you, baby
But I ain′t a-gonna cry!
The lyrics of Kay Starr's song I Ain't Gonna Cry No More convey a sense of emotional strength and resilience despite enduring heartbreak. The song’s narrator asserts that she won’t shed a tear even though her lover has left her, because crying won't bring him back. Instead, she'll focus on waiting for him to come back, and if he doesn't, then she'll move on without shedding another tear.
The singer continues to assert her emotional toughness, proclaiming that even if she does cry, it won't affect her ability to sleep, and she won't give her former lover the satisfaction of hearing her cry. The song then returns to the singer's steadfast belief that her lover will return someday, and until then, she won't let herself cry, even though she admits to feeling very lonely.
Overall, the lyrics of I Ain't Gonna Cry No More eschew the typical portrayal of heartbreak as a time of weakness and suffering, instead portraying it as a time to display strength and inner resilience.
Line by Line Meaning
I ain′t gonna cry
I won't shed tears or show my sorrow
'Cause you said goodbye, oh no!
Even though you left me, I won't cry about it
Though I′m worried about you
I am concerned for you
Even if I weep
Even if I do cry
Will I lose my sleep? Oh no!
Will I lose sleep over you? No, I won't
I'll be dreamin′ about you
I'll be dreaming about you despite not crying
I can't be wrong
I am convinced that you'll come back someday
You′ll come back some day
I believe you'll return sometime in the future
Time won't be long
It won't be long until you come back
So until then, I′ll say
Until then, I'll continue to say
I'm so lonesome without you
I feel very lonely without you
Mmm, if you do or you die
If something were to happen to you
There′s no use to try
Trying to change what happened is pointless
You don't deserve a peep
You don't deserve even a small expression of sorrow from me
I ain′t a-gonna cry!
Once again, I won't cry
Writer(s): Williams James Nathan
Contributed by Adam P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Megan Sparkes
Kay is everything